


Everything Stays

by LittleSatan



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cats, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Fluff overdose, Growing Up Together, M/M, Sappy, School Life, Sideline Ships, Slow Burn, Young Christa, Young Ymir, protective Ymir
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-06-03 03:09:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6594298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleSatan/pseuds/LittleSatan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life can be pretty fucked up for certain people, although sometimes that can change. Ymir who had just recently moved with her family in a new neighbourhood; faces the problems of her controlling mother, struggling school life and the confusion of whether the girl she's been friends with since the start could be a potential girlfriend for her in the future. </p><p>This is a story about how Ymir moves in and meets Christa, who changes her whole world throughout the course of her life. From the age of 8 when they first meet, to the age of when they're both adults.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Meeting

Chapter 1 - The Meeting

\---  
Age : 8 [1997]  
\---

Houses passed her quickly in a haze, the colours of the buildings and landscape reflecting off her brown orbs in a curved pattern. Small fingers slightly clutching her white shirt that had been unfortunately bigger than her actual size, making it look like as if it was some sort of dress. Which it wasn't because this girl would never wear such clothing, just thinking of the word 'dress' made her insides churn.

So you can take a guess what type of girl she is. Basically the opposite of what her mother wanted her to be, which had been all girly and sickeningly pink. She could remember the day when her mother explained why she needed to wear a pink dress, it didn't exactly go to plan.

(Flashback)

"Sweetheart pink is the colour all girls like!" she exaggerated with a forced smile, her temper clearly showing through, with how her exceptionally groomed hands gripped the dress tightly. Pink fingernails shining against the light.

"But mama…I like blue, pink is-" she stuck her to tongue out to express her feelings towards the bright colour. Which earned a disapproving look, staring at her own daughter with daggers. Placing the dress back where it belonged, she grabbed her daughter's tiny wrist tightly and walked off towards the exit.

"If you don't appreciate the clothes I want you to wear, bearing in mind that I'm paying for them. Then you won't get anything" The little brunette nodded hesitantly and listened to her mother without any retaliation, letting herself be dragged off out of the store with force from her mother.

"Mama…it hurts" she commented, although her mother gave her silence. Whether she even noticed how tightly she had been holding or it was intentional, she was truly angry and for that reason alone the girl just let the pain wash over her. To please her mother? Maybe. There was no point arguing over such a matter when her mother refused to listen.

(end of flashback)

The vehicle stopped in front of a house. The little girl stepped out with her brown teddy-bear in her hands as she opened her mouth in surprise on seeing the house. It was definitely bigger than her old one that was for sure.

The girl felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her father smiling in delight towards the house. "Are we r-really going to live here?" she asked, feeling really excited for the answer she was hoping to get. The girl's father smiled and knelt down eye to eye, patting her head softly.

"Yes, this is our new home. Excited to see your bedroom?" he asked and she nodded frantically, however stopped and made a thinking face. Her chin placed in between the thumb and index finger as she made a 'humming' noise.

"Who was in charge of doing my bedroom?" she asked, wishing for her father to be the one who decorated the room and not her mother. Although he hadn't heard and just walked off, so it was the little girl's job alone to find out. It would surely be a nightmare for the girl to wake up in a room filled with pink, heck her clothes would probably be all pink. Shivering in disgust, the girl went off to investigate her new room.

As she journeyed on to find her bedroom, all she could do was be amazed and intrigued by all the new furniture and decorations inside the house. It was warm and cozy and perfect for a family. A big red-brick fireplace was in the living room, and all the girl could think was how much fun she's going to have with toasting marshmallows on it with her father. The white fluffy marshmallow melting and peeling, creating a goey hot layer on the inside while her father clumsily burns his as always. Just thinking about this scenario, made her stomach grumble from the accumulating hunger. Or the current lingering thought of sleeping next to the fireplace in her cushion made fort, after a long hard day.

It was going to be terrific.

Slowly but surely she found the room with a red plaque attached to the white door with her name in calligraphy. She didn't know whether that was a bad sign or not. Hoping it was a good sign, she grasped the golden handle, feeling the warmth of her hand against the icy metal. And with a twist of a wrist, and closed eyes to make it a surprise, a sudden wind passed her body.

Opening one eye hesitantly, she saw…her nightmare.

Pink. Everything was so pink. Pink curtains, pink bedsheets and pillows, pink desk, pink rug, pink frames around pictures. The only colour difference she saw with her eyes was probably the brown and gold treasure toy box in the corner, yet even that was surrounded and suffocated with pink decoration around it.The room had been nauseating for the young girl.

Had she deserved this torturous treatment? No. Did she know who did this? Yes. Was it disappointing for her? Yes, definitely.

Somehow, she knew from deep within her heart that the bedroom she wanted and dreamt of couldn't possibly have come true. It didn't stop her from wishing though. Wishing on having that 'super cool and awesome bedroom' she always described, with painted monsters on the wall and army patterned bedsheets. Fake snakes would hang down from the curtain, essentially a scare trap for whoever opens it, mainly targeted towards a certain pink-freak. A rug that had a printed road so toy cars could be played on it, plus all the toys she wanted. Giant monsters, tanks, pirate ships, swords and guns, dinosaurs.

Except, she received exactly the opposite. Not only had the room be filled with pink furnishings, the toys that filled the toy box blinded her from first glance when she opened it. There were porcelain dolls that looked way too creepy and realistic for a child to have and so she held it with disgust; sticking her tongue, dropping it from surprise when the eyes followed and moved. Truly creepy.

Digging around some more in the box, she kept discovering toys that she didn't want. When she found a tiara, her fingers lightly held it away from her body as if it was some sort of bio-weapon. Thinking if touched, she'll be contaminated with 'pink-cooties' in her child-like imagination.

A sudden knock alarmed the girl, making her jump from the surprise. Her mother entered with a bright smile on seeing the room, and twirled like an idiot; making her dress move with the rhythm. Her green eyes stared at her daughter, as she walked closer with a sway to the hips. Red heels clicking annoyingly against the flooring, creating an exaggerated walk. Which she expected from her 'pristine and strict' mother. I mean a person like her, would intentionally walk flamboyantly so she could hog the attention.

Looking down at the young girl who currently sat down cross-legged on the floor, she gave a malicious smile; clapping her hands all of a sudden. "Do you like your room? I decorated it myself, your father wanted something different but I convinced him not to"

"I'd rather have dad decorate my room" she whispered, barely audible for someone to hear although it seems that it was audible enough for someone like her mother.

Her mother's face, caked on with makeup, came closer to the brunette. Tilting her head towards the left slightly, releasing a high-pitched 'hmmm…'. "What was that?"

One of her tiny feet went up on her toes and twirled it around, as she placed her hands in front of her while looking down slightly frightened. "Nothing..." she mustered up her courage and muttered a quiet response. "I love the room…" forcing a fake smile to please her mother, which it did.

"I'm glad, I put hard effort" her heels echoed throughout the room when she walked around, curiously analysing every detail of the horrifyingly pink room. Once she reached the window, a high pitched noise came out, quirking her eyebrow in question.

Sharp eyes stared at the entrance of the house, looking at a mysterious blonde man and woman conversing with her husband. Grabbing her daughter's hand and gritting her teeth in frustration, she stomped in her heels angrily on her way to the strangers.

Now, this little girl's mother is what you would call a 'Jealous-Freak' where any person who she has not met or personally know engage a conversation with her husband will become very agitated. She should have really been the definition of 'Jealousy with how you could see with your own two eyes, a menacing aura around her whenever she goes 'crazy'. It's an actual nightmare to deal with.

The little girl remembered the incident when this attitude of hers happened.

(Flash back)

"You don't speak to her, you hear me?" as she suddenly threw a book towards her husband, that had been conveniently placed on the table in front. Trying to spread her point through violence and shouts.

"I don't see why you get so jealous whenever I talk to someone, especially when it's a girl!" he retaliated against, trying his best to reason with her. Although this comment made her even more angry, frustrated and loud.

"I'm not jealous! I saw how that girl was looking at you, staring at you as if you're some sort of meat that she wanted to have. Don't you see I'm trying to keep whores like her away?" this answer showed her desperation on trying to win the argument; creating a bunch of bullshit which annoyed her husband immensely more than anything in this world.

"What? That…That doesn't even make any sense Kristina! She's my co-worker, she can talk to me all she likes. I'm not that kind of guy who cheats, oh my god…" he shouted, thinking if he shouted loud enough his points in this argument would actually pass her brain. Which it didn't.

"How do I know you're not the type to cheat Vilfred? How do I know you haven't been talking to any other girls? " Accusing him of being a 'cheater' ticked her husband over the line a little too much.

"We've been married for 3 years! Don't you dare tell me that you suspected me of being a cheater, you liar. First of all, I'm not that kind of guy. Second of all, we have a child. Third of all, what the actual fuck is wrong with you?" he asked in question, disgust lacing his voice.

"This conversation is done" she hissed, clutching her fists tightly into a tight ball. So tight that her own fingernails digged into her skin until it trickled blood. Walking out of the room, 'Vilfred' sat down on the chair and hid his face with both hands, sighing in frustration with the argument.

Sometimes, he wondered how he married a woman like her. Although, he always felt guilty whenever he thought of this sensitive subject and placed his daughter on his priorities lists first rather than anything else. Thinking if a divorce happened, the girl would be traumatised at an early age, this wouldn't have dwelled with him when he's the type of man who would blame himself even if he wasn't at fault. So that wasn't an option.

Meanwhile, a curious little girl had watched the dispute between her two parents secretly on the stairs. Pursing her lips in worry for the two, who fought. Counting how many times she's seen her parents fight was now futile when her number of fingers couldn't keep track anymore when it passed 10.

It truly frustrated her to see a woman like her mother be so inconsiderate and demanding towards her father, when all he's ever done was try and make everyone happy.

"Dad looks sad…again"

 

(End of flashback)

The girl and her mother exited the house, her red lips slowly turning into a welcoming smile for the neighbours that had been conversing with her husband. While she held the small girl's wrist, tight enough for her to not escape and run off, like what she'd usually do in these situations.

"And who are you?" she inquired

The blonde smiled brightly, showing her perfect pearly whites to the woman. This smile was beautifully enchanting to look at, it just radiated 'joy and happiness' from a single smile. And this pissed off Kristina even more so, noticing the annoyingly perfect woman presented in front of her.

The blonde's husband wasn't an exception also. With this, Kristina was easily swooned by the blonde man with a single "Hello" directed towards her. It seemed as though her daughter and husband noticed this difference in personality before she composed herself.

"Who might you be?" she asked

"My name is Rod and this is my beautiful wife Alma. We're the one's who live next door and so we just had to welcome you to our neighbourhood." The blonde man answered, "You must be Kristina" he gave a small warm smile.

On the other hand, while the adults talked between eachother and the brown-haired girl's mother unconsciously loosened the grip, letting her escape. Brown orbs suddenly noticed a pair of tiny hands grabbing behind the blonde woman's legs, the grip creasing the material of the clothes. Curiosity flowed through her and she walked hesitantly towards the tall blonde woman.

"Excuse me…there's someone behind you" she politely said to the blonde lady, to which she just chuckled. Soft gentle hands patted the top of her head, elegant fingers slowly ran through her brown bundle of hair. 'She must do this to her own daughter' the thought popped into her head.

"Oh you must be their daughter, your father has told me all about you. Isn't she just cute Rod?" turning her head towards her husband as she questioned rhetorically.

"Well we also have a daughter, she's the same age as you. Come on come out sweetie, don't be shy" she encouraged whoever was grabbing behind her legs. Suddenly a little girl emerged from behind with an innocent doe look to her, those big blue eyes mesmerised everyone. Creating an illusion as if she trapped the sea into her eyes, to obtain her eye colour. It was truly a head-turner.

Kristina had been surprised to see the little girl and she immediately became jealous because of the sheer fact that this little girl had been what kind of daughter she had always wanted. Girly and sweet; who would wear all sorts of dresses. Envious of this, a glare of daggers was directed straight towards her own daughter, who hadn't noticed the death glare when all she could focus her attention on was a potential friend.

"Go and introduce yourselves over there while mummy and daddy chat with our new neighbours, okay?"

The blonde girl nodded and made eye contact with the freckled girl awkwardly, looking down immediately and walking off slowly. An obvious distance between them with how they didn't know eachother yet.

They stopped and stood still, their mouths both trying to open and form a decent sentence to break the ice. And to the blonde girl's relief, her wish was granted. "What's your n-name?" the little girl stuttered, trying her best to control the nerves.

"Um..Christa, what about you?"

"It's Ymir…"

After the slow introduction, silence washed over them completely, making the atmosphere even heavier and thicker than before. And both girls hated this. Awkward situations were a nightmare to endure and Ymir couldn't help herself laugh unnaturally while scratching the back of her head to look more composed than she actually was. Meanwhile inside the freckled girl's mind had been 'She looks like a doll'.

A sudden blush appeared on Christa's face, creating an angelic image to her and in addition, the Sun gave off rays of sunshine behind her head to make a 'halo' effect. This light lining her small silhouette perfectly with a blur, Ymir didn't know if this person in front of her was some sort of beautiful creature from another planet or if it was mere coincidence she was standing in the right place.

Ymir could only admire this 'Christa' girl in silence.

"You're beautiful…" Ymir immediately regretted accidentally saying that compliment to the blonde, covering her face in horror on actually saying it out loud. "Uh…I mean, want to be friends with me?" She wanted to mentally slap herself at this moment, I mean asking a new girl that question was too much for Ymir.

To Ymir's surprise, sweet laughter filled her ears. It seemed that Christa found this a little amusing for her to not release a few giggles, solely for the fact she'd never met someone like Ymir before, 'different' was the word to describe her. Well of course, when half the school of young children could already fluently read books and have opinionated debates with eachother. Life at school for little Christa could become pretty boring, so Ymir was interesting and a fresh start.

"Okay, let's be friends" Christa smiled towards her new friend.

"Let's be friends forever!"

\---


	2. The Difference

Chapter 2 - The Difference

\---  
Age : 8 [1997]  
\---

After a week of being together, Ymir and Christa had been inseparable with each other. Everyday they would take turns inviting over the other one to their house to play and generally have a good blast being the kids they were. Most of the time, they would act and get into different characters by trying to dress up, usually using their parent's clothes. And this would then get them both into trouble, especially with Ymir's mother, known as 'The Witch' when the girls try to discreetly converse about her.

"I'll save you, my beautiful princess! From the evil Witch that traps you…you from.." Ymir stuttered, suddenly having trouble saying the line she'd thought of in her head. 'Old English' is pretty complicated for a kid. Although Christa giggled and whispered the line next to her ear. "Seeing the wonderful world"

Ymir snickered and coughed to clear her throat for dramatic effect, "-You from seeing the wonderful world, _my lady_ " as she enthusiastically shouted while waving a sword around in the air clumsily, her 'outstanding' skills nearly hitting the blonde's face by an inch, to which she apologised quickly.

"Ah is it my knight and shining armour I hear?" Christa announced with hopeful innocence in her voice, the dress she wore flooded the floor with pink cloth when she knelt down. Creating a wonderful effect behind her, adding that extra 'royal image'. Turning her head halfway, she eloquently spoke "Prince Ymir, have you found a way to help me escape this cage I am trapped within? Or has my hope of freedom vanished from my palm?".

The freckled girl, stood confused and amazed at the performance Christa was giving, although she could hardly understand what she was saying. Releasing a simple 'eh?' to exaggerate her confusion. "Where did you learn to speak so..so posh!" she gasped in question. Ymir always felt a little idiotic when she stood next to Christa, especially the difference in speaking and pronunciation, plus the amount of words she knew. It was unbelievable she was already remembering and using such complicated vocabulary for her age.

"We were taught to speak like this because of my school, which you're joining next week!" a high-pitched squeal emitted from her mouth, swaying her body left to right in excitement.

"Like I'm going to speak like that, I'll be that one kid who sounds stupid when compared to everyone. That school's really snobby and posh I heard"

"From who?" Christa inquired suspiciously

Ymir scratched her head awkwardly, "From a person" she answered incredulously. "Okay okay, from no one. Just thought it would be you know? With how you speak, I'll be the odd one out". Dropping the sword and sitting on the floor cross-legged, she pouted and sighed; resting her palm, while staring at Christa rather intensely.

Christa moved closer to the now solemn girl quickly, grabbing a hold of both her shoulders and frantically shaking it surprised Ymir. **"You.Won't.Be.The.Odd.One.Out"** she said, exaggerating and articulating each word with a stop. Laughing, she grabbed Ymir's hand and squeezed it tightly while Ymir looked up from shock from contact with the blonde. Feeling her soft hands made her smile.

"Okay, I'm sure if you're there I'll have an awesome time! Come on, stand up my beautiful princess! For I have come to save you" Ymir shouted energetically, turning around in front of Christa and bending down to try and give her a piggy back. Christa complied, jumping on her back securely with Ymir's hands holding the girl tightly. Although one step had them laughing when Ymir lost her balance and fell ungracefully with Christa still on her back.

Soft childish laughs escaped, filling the room with joy and happiness from their silliness. After a few more giggles, silence came and both girls laid peacefully on the floor next to each other, innocently holding hands. "What do you think I'll be when I'm older?" Christa turned to face her freckled friend in question, a small smile present on her lips.

"A princess…"

"Too girly…"

"A…soldier?"

Christa shook her head and pointed a finger in Ymir's direction. "I would imagine you being a soldier, not me…" Ymir agreed with that statement.

"What about a model?"

"Definitely not"

"Hmm…a florist?"

She wriggled her nose in response to the suggestion, knowing if she worked as a florist it would be a total catastrophe. Seeing as Christa had a bad case of the old 'hay-fever' and all those flowers would create a sneezing frenzy for her. So definitely not a choice in career.

"Can't, I sneeze every time there's a flower near me"

Ymir pouted, "What if I wanted to give you flowers?"

"I guess if it's from you, I'll try and stop sneezing just for you". Scooting closer, Christa embraced Ymir into a tight hug, her warm cheek against Ymir's chest.

"Oh! What about a baker?"

Christa thought for a moment on being a baker, she's never even considered once on becoming a baker, the idea of creating breads and cakes and all those things that bakers make. Was interesting to say the least, which intrigued the blonde girl immensely. As she imagined herself with a short apron and flour all over herself in the kitchen when trying to make cakes.

"Being a baker sounds fun!"

"It's been worked out, I'll be a soldier while you'll be a baker. You'll give me the cake for free right?"

Christa stuck her tongue out cheekily, "No" she spoke with light-hearted humour.

Ymir enthusiastically fake cried and wailed dramatically, clutching onto Christa for dear life as she stroked her golden hair. "You are so mean!" she joked, making Christa burst into fits of giggles. Until they heard those loud recognisable sounds of clicks coming their way. They jumped up like ninjas and ran around to fix the mess in Ymir's room, when pillows and blankets were all over; toys covered the floor and worst of all. Christa had Kristina's dress on, so Ymir took it off and quickly hid it under the bed, hoping that her mother won't find it.

"Ymir have you **seen** my pink dress?" she gritted her teeth in frustration.

Both the girls gave an innocent look, placing a naive facade to hide the fear that was currently under their visage. "No mama…Me and Christa have just been playing all day. We haven't seen it anywhere" she lied, feeling her stomach churn and do flips on how nervous she became. Because one wrong move could result badly, which meant a furious Kristina.

On the other hand, Kristina spotted something pink under the bed, a small portion of the dress peeked out and displayed the bright colour. Strutting over towards the bed, she knelt down swiftly and grabbed the dress tightly. Holding the dress in her hand while the other one shook from pure anger, it became clear to Ymir that this was a big mistake.

A huge mistake.

Ymir's mother took hold of her small wrist and pulled it upwards with force, sharp fingernails scrapped along the skin. Creating three bright red lines. Ymir let out a pained noise and with this Christa furrowed her eyebrows in concern for her friend. What type of mother would scratch her own daughter? whether it was purposely done or an accident, it didn't dwell on Christa that well.

Although, Kristina finally came to her senses to remember it wasn't just her and Ymir in the room, Christa stood right in front of them a meter away. Shocked from figuring out they weren't alone, she immediately let go of the wrist and wiped her palm against her clothes. From sweating? Christa wasn't sure.

With a few coughs, she spoke with high authority "Christa you should leave, I'm going to call your mother" as she walked away with heavy footsteps against the floor, the blonde ran to Ymir in worry. Grabbing her hands between her own, which she always did with Ymir, placed comfort and reassurance within her that at least somebody cared for her wellbeing.

"What she did was wrong Ymir!" she exclaimed, and when she looked more closely towards Ymir's arm, the red marks became aggravated which made it have a slight bump. "See…it's all red, does it hurt?" tears nearly welled up in Christa's eyes.

"Don't worry about it" Ymir brushed it off as she didn't want Christa to worry so much. She didn't like it when people were worried about her, it wasn't worth it in the end, was what she believed. If anything, she should be the one to fix her own problems and not be placed on someone else's shoulder to deal with.

"Don't worry about it? You have scratches on your arm. Mother's aren't s-supposed to do that!" she stuttered slightly near the end, the emotion 'concern' currently choking her.

"It was just an accident and you should get going, I heard the door opening downstairs. It's probably your mom…" sadness dripped from those words alone and it made Christa think for just a second if this type of interaction between Ymir and her mother was 'normal'.

They walked downstairs while holding each other's hands tightly. Looks as if Ymir had been right, Christa's mother stood at the entrance with her usual bright smile, on the other hand Kristina's looked forced and rugged. Hearing quiet footsteps from behind her, she stared at Ymir and Christa with beady eyes.

"Let's go home Christa" she knelt down on one knee and gave a big warm hug to Christa, and lifted her up from the ground to carry. For a small slim woman like Alma, it normally surprised people when she could lift multiple boxes and would then occasionally reject people, normally men, who asked her 'would you like some help miss? those boxes are pretty heavy for a woman like yourself to carry'. To which she just politely declined and carried on, enjoying the astonishment on their faces.

So a small girl like Christa was easy-peasy for her. However when lifting her up, it became clear something was wrong. Christa hadn't smiled when they hugged, meaning there was definitely a fault going on. Suspicion and her 'mom - instincts' told her there had been a scene that had happened in Kristina's house that made her daughter upset.

"Goodbye Alma and Christa. Have a nice afternoon" She spoke with force.

Meanwhile, Ymir's wrist yet again was held by a pair of perfectly groomed hands with a grip that hurt her. And this was noticed by Alma, who immediately saw the marks on Kristina's daughter, those big red lines that ran across her skin set off alarms.

Blue eyes fought against green, Alma beginning to think her daughter might have been affected when those claw marks happened on Ymir. Although, she stopped thinking on the subject before her thoughts would turn dark and more serious. It wasn't any of her business, I mean there might have been an accident, hoped Alma and even if she did have suspicion over Kristina.

There were no strong evidence...for now.

Alma waved goodbye and so did Christa, to Ymir only of course. Not even looking in the direction of Kristina for she felt physically sick even thinking about Ymir's mother. To her, some sort of vile revolting emotion radiates from Kristina every time she was near and she would never admit it, but Ymir's mother scares the life out of her.

On the other hand, when the door had closed and the light from outside dimmed down. Kristina towered over her daughter and she felt intimidated by the height and power she possessed. Just from the glare made every fiber in her body shake from fear.

In a low voice, Kristina spoke "Don't you dare tell your father about this" as she pointed towards the scratches, Ymir nodded quickly. "Make sure to cover it up by wearing clothes with long sleeves. I swear…Do I make myself **clear?** " she questioned.

"Yes…" it came out weak, broken and silent. Barely enough to hear, like the air had disintegrated the words that came out.

"Good, I don't want your father shouting at me…stupid bastard" the derogatory remark ticked Ymir off slightly over the line, although she kept all the red hot emotions under control before she could explode in a fiery mess. "Are you a statue or what? Go to your room"

Ymir walked up the stairs hurriedly, wishing for her mother to be gone from her life. Entering her room and closing the door, she slid down onto her bottom, hugging her knees for closure and comfort. Even though the only person able to give her comfort would be Christa or her father; both not in her sight, to hug and cuddle with.

Sometimes, her only wish that she desperately hoped for to come true, was the wish on having her mom thrown onto an island on her own. So she would be as far as possible, away from another person, meaning that she couldn't hurt her father anymore or make her life miserable. No more fights, no more arguments and especially, no more sadness.

"It's just a wish…a silly little wish" she whispered to herself. Feeling a tiny bit idiotic on believing that such a wish would ever come true. Ridiculous and impossible were the only few words that described the wish.

_Flashback_

"Look Vilfred, do you like my new dress?" she asked with a bright smile attached to those thin red lips. Vilfred returned back the smile, upon hearing the happiness in her words. Although, it occurred to him how she bought it.

"How much was it?…"

"£190, it doesn't cost that much right? And anyway it looks good" she fluttered her eyes.

Vilfred nearly choked on his own food, the chewed chicken became lodged up before he gagged and spat it out in horror on hearing the price. "£190 for a dress! What were you thinking?! I can't believe...you spent so much money on a bloody dress!" he boisterously shouted.

Kristina dropped the silverware in her hands, the sound of silver against porcelain plates erupted in loud aggravating noises inside the room. "It was only £190! My friend, Dorothy's husband, bought her a £550 necklace. I don't know about you, but I was pretty generous to pick such a cheap thing"

"Cheap? Oh my god…That's not cheap at all, we could have used that money to buy Ymir new things like toys or clothes" he argued angrily

"Oh here we go again. All about Ymir this, Ymir that. I never get anything but she always receive new things from you. And bear in mind Vilfred, that I actually try to buy her clothes but she refuses it like the spoilt brat she's becoming. This is unbelievable you know? I buy one dress to treat myself and you suddenly become a fucking lawyer-"

" **Language!** Don't use such foul language in front of our child!" he interrupted with a growl.

"I can speak however the hell I want!"

Meanwhile, Ymir watched the fight with her own two eyes, absolutely detesting all of the shouting that went back and forth between her parents. So fed up, she pushed her chair away from the table, placed the knife and fork down to only walk away from the whole fiasco.

All she wanted was her family to eat in silence and tranquillity, without a single problem igniting another huge fight between the two. Acting as if they were 5 years olds arguing over a silly toy.

"It's all mama's.…fault"

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter, it ended a little sad didn't it?
> 
> [Sorry if you see any mistakes]


	3. The Horse [Part 1]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is based in England, so some terminologies might be different depending on where you're from. 
> 
> From what I know, America and other countries call it 'Key Stage or Grades' although in England, we say 'Years instead'. I just wanted to let you know that

Chapter 3 - The Horse [Part 1]

\---  
Age: 8 [1997]  
\---

Alma drove the two girls to their school, or in Ymir's case, her new school. Alma had agreed to drive Ymir to school, seeing as that Vilfred had work in the morning and couldn't pick his daughter up unfortunately. While Kristina didn't have a driving licence. So it was her duty to drive them to school, bear in mind that wasn't a problem at all.

'Thank god for that. I'll feel sorry for anyone who has her as a driver' Alma sarcastically commented in her head, slightly laughing to stop such hateful thinking.

"Are you excited for your first day Ymir?" Christa asked with glee and over-growing excitement. 

"Yes, I feel a little... _nervous_ though" 

"Don't worry, people at my school are friendly. And the school does look intimidating with how **GIGANTIC** it is" she exaggerated the word by spreading her hands wide apart in the air. "-compared to our heights"

"Sweety, everyone looks small when compared to a building" Alma commented while driving

"True but it's still huge!" Ymir laughed, enjoying the enthusiasm in Christa. 

After this, everyone in the car stayed silent as the radio played songs. While Christa's head leaned against Ymir's shoulder comfortably, the freckled girl ran her fingers through soft blonde hair. Making Christa slightly sleepy on the journey, although the car stopped and both looked out the window.

One look towards the school made Ymir's stomach do front and backflips. Christa hadn't been lying, it was huge. Ymir could only imagine the horror of interacting with hundreds of people because it was the 'norm' to socialise in a place like this. 

Christa opened the car door and stepped out quickly with Ymir following behind hesistantly. Running towards her mother she said "Don't forget to pick us up!" to which Alma responded with a giggle and a shake of the head. "Have a great day girls!" and with a final wave goodbye, the car drove off and left two girls alone. One excited and one absolutely nervous beyond belief. 

This school was known for their tough rules on uniform, work and mannerisms. All things Ymir lacked in, it hasn't even been a full five minutes from stepping out the car and her tie was already _wonky_. Subjects such as English and Maths were a pain for her as well, and she's never really been 'exceptional' in anything except for sports. Worst of all, manners certainly weren't her forte, the act of being polite and composed didn't come natural even at her age.

So the famous school; Rose Primary School, had been a private school who strictly instructs their students to wear their uniform with respect. Which in Ymir's opinion was a bunch of 'bs', with how she thought wearing her uniform was so uncomfortable and mundane. She had to wear a red tie, white long sleeved shirt, a grey jumper and a black blazer with the school's logo. And to top it all off, girls had to wear skirts or else. 

'Unfair…why can't I wear trousers?' she grumbledto herself. 

Ymir's hand had been grabbed by Christa and with a small tug they both started walking towards the building. "This is the front entrance of the school, and oh! I've already volunteered myself to be your 'buddy' for the day" she excitedly beamed.

When they entered through the opened door, Ymir curiously looked around the place. "The room right at the front entrance is the reception" pointing towards a room beside them, Ymir saw people inside through the window. "There are three floors. First floor is for 'Year 1, 2 and 3's'. Second floor are for 'Year 4 and 5's' and the last one are for 'Year 6' only. Each floor has a main teacher, kinda like side Headteachers but Mrs. Hive is the head of this school. Oh! and it's nicknamed the 'tower'"

"Calm down Christa, you're getting so excited over this" she laughed but Christa shook her head in disagreement with Ymir's statement. 

"I'm just happy that you're here at my school and I get to show you around" she replied, for Ymir to only pat her head.

"Okay I'll let you have your moment…" she snickered cheekily. 

"So carrying on, on each floor there's an art room, a main study room or form room and science room. Well except for the first floor because they have a 'play room' instead of science and there's also only one study room as our year are placed together. The art and science room aren't that big but our 'form rooms' are gigantic, probably because of how many children are here. Then there's also the cafeteria which is that way" she suddenly pointed left towards a hall and then pointed right, "And the P.E area, main hall and finally the drama hall"

Christa took a breath, "Also every week, individual year groups go to MFL or Modern Foreign Languages to learn Frenchn except for Year 1 and 2's as they're paired up. Us Year 3's go every Wednesday"

"One question...why is it so _quiet_ , aren't there supposed to be you know? other students" she inquired .

"Oh I told my teacher that there'll be a new student and asked them If I could show the school where it wasn't so crowded. So we're like…umm…15 minutes earlier. Don't worry there are still teachers here, they're always early birds"

"So where's our class?"

"Oh we're on first floor, seeing as we are Year 3. Our main and art teacher is called Mrs.Jane, she's really nice"

Ymir nodded, taking in all the information as hard as she can so she would remember where she should go if Christa weren't here to help her in the future. The blonde suddenly touched and interlaced their fingers together as they held hands, Christa directing Ymir towards a white door with 'Class 1 - Mrs. Jane' on a plaque.

Ymir gulped and tried to breathe in deeply, knowing her teacher was behind that door. Even if Christa told her that she was 'the nicest teacher ever! in her cute little voice, Mrs.Jane might be biased towards students and suddenly she'll shut Ymir down and give her all the hard work. Extra homework and unfair detentions! 

"Oh no!" She belted out, Christa's mouth hang low in confusion with a slight quirk of an eyebrow. 

"Ymir?" 

Ymir composed herself and laughed awkwardly, trying to swipe the scene under the carpet because of well…embarrassment. "I just thought how..h-how bad it would be if you died!" Christa just stared at her and all Ymir could do was laugh. Laugh and die on the inside. 

"Ha…hahahaha! Come let's go in and meet my new teacher Chrissy" Pulling her towards the door and opening it, she dragged the blonde in.

"Chrissy?" she questioned, although she wasn't answered. 

A red haired woman behind a brown messily arranged desk looked up to see the two girls who barged in, her black rimmed glasses slowly moving down her pointed nose. A fancy pen that had been held between her elegantly thin hands dropped carefully to the side as she smiled brightly.

"Goodmorning Christa, is this our new student Ymir?"

"Yes Mrs. Jane!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, and might I give you a tip next time Ymir?" 

Ymir listened and moved closer to the desk, still holding on to Christa's small hand. "What is it…miss?"

"You should knock before coming inside a room, it's quite rude to enter without warning unless an emergency. I'm not as strict with that certain rule unlike some other teachers who'll scold you for it" she hinted, making Christa laugh as she obviously knew who those 'teachers' were. "I don't particularly mind in circumstances, although I'd rather not let you get into trouble the first day. This is a rather strict school" she winked cheerfully. 

"Thank you miss" Ymir spoke with a neutral expression.

"I presume that you'll want to sit next to Christa?"

Ymir nodded frantically, "Yes"

This made Mrs.Jane smile, "Don't worry, I already arranged seats for you to sit next to Christa. Our tables are for 4 people to sit in anyway so no worries" she clapped her palms together, understanding the situation. 

Mrs.Jane's bright green eyes lit up on seeing the time, "Oh looks as if school is starting, just sit on table 1 over there you two until the others arrive". Just as ordered the two girls sat next to eachother, Ymir instinctly moving closer with her chair towards the blonde in a not so discreet manner.

Ymir whispered "So how does the seating and group plan work? Like…do they just place the different years wherever?" 

Christa shook her head and looked into Ymir's sharp rounded eyes, "No, they group children together in their years. Like there are…" her index finger suddenly extended as she started counting quickly on how many tables there were, "-7 tables which sit 4 people on each one. So 7 × 4 is…28 and that means there are 28 students, it use to be 27 students "

Ymir widened her eyes in amazement at Christa's math skill, as she couldn't believe how fast she did the calculations and the blonde didn't even count with her fingers! Amazing. 

"In those 28 students there are 12 Year 3's, 8 Year 2's and the same amount goes to the Year 1's. The red tables are for our year, the blue one are for Year 2 and and the yellow are for the last years. It's all very complicated yet simple, took me a while on why they did it like this but it works"

"But…how? This just sounds so hard, why can't they just teach individual Year groups?" Ymir had been mind boggled by all of this, how the school arranged their classes confused the freckled girl. 

"I don't really know, I guess they want to be different? if I had to guess, they probably do it this way so they don't limit the learning ability and it can then push the students to do better. I don't really know but It works though, the majority of the students here are known for their exceptional grades and manners.

"Like you" Ymir commented cheekily with a smile, earning a giggle.

"Everyone in this class does their work 110% of the time. The way they teach is that they give us a choice on whether which level of intensity we want to work. Mrs. Jane will give us the subject and teach us the method or what to do. She will then give us three choices to choose from." she took a breath but carried on, "Easy, Medium and Hard. It doesn't really matter which one you choose as long as you do the work and it gives us free choice. After you've choosen which one you want to do, she'll ask the whole class which one they choose and she'll give the work sheet to you"

"Easy-Peasy!" After the intellectual and fluent rambling of Christa, it ended with 'Easy-Peasy' which ruined the mature ways of how she just spoke, making Ymir grin from how ironic it was. 

Soon, the bell rang and kids flew past the door in a haze to enter the room, briefly placing their coats and bags in a small room where they kept it there to ensure safety towards their property. Once all the kids were seated, following the new seating plan on the white board, Mrs. Jane started off by introducing the new student. 

Obviously starting the cliché moment of when everyone turns their head in the direction of where the new student sat. This of course panicked Ymir beyond belief as dread etched onto her face as she spotted their eyes curiously looking at her. It had been even worse when the two boys who sat on her table closely looked, observing her as some sort of new object within class.

 

The teacher thankfully clapped her hands a couple of times to get everyone's attention. "Now class, please stay quiet" her green eyes suddenly stared at Ymir, her smile bright and suspicious. "Can you please introduce yourself for the whole class?" 

She asked for the impossible, she had to introduce herself? In front of… **everybody**. Pleading with her eyes, she immediately directed her line of sight towards the only girl that she trusted. Christa would get her out of this situation, unfortunately Christa didn't quite receive the hint. Instead she gave a big encouraging smile and presented her a thumbs up. 

Ymir didn't know whether to pass out or leave the room. Whether she had a choice or not on doing those options, Ymir instead breathed in shakily and opened her mouth to speak. "Hi my n-name's Ymir". 

Ymir internally screamed with that introduction.

"Could you tell us more about you Ymir?"

"Uh I'm 8 years old and…I recently m-moved here, I'm good at sports" 

Ymir yet again internally screamed.

"Thank you Ymir, you may sit down now. Now class-" After the whole introduction, it felt physically painful to re-think what just happened, it had been cringe worthy. The stuttering and the looks she received from the whole class made her insides churn, and rest assured Christa noticed this. 

"You did great Ymir" she patted her on the back softly, calming her down only a little. "Don't worry everyone was like that once"

Ymir appreciated her little blonde friend for comforting her, even if the introduction went horrible she could always count on Christa to make her feel better with herself.

Class started, and Mrs. Jane started teaching maths to the class. Speaking of maths, this subject was first place on Ymir's list of subjects she personally hated. All the numbers on the board began to swirl into one big blur, confusing Ymir. She always knew that her maths skill lacked, although at least everything else was pretty good, like sports. 

"Okay everyone, put your hand up if you want the easy paper?" She asked

Ymir was about to place her hand up immediately although had been put off seeing as even the Year 1's didn't even want the easy paper, so she stayed quiet and waited. It wasn't her fault that numbers seemed to inevitably bore her to death.

"-put your hand up if you want the medium paper"

All the Year 1 and 2's placed their hands up, except for the Year 3's which yet again put off Ymir on placing her hand in the air. She knew what she was doing was eventually going to smack her reality sooner or later, when she won't be able to do the paperwork.

"Now who wants the hardest level?" 

After she announced it, all the Year 3 students shot their hands up quicker than Ymir could process. It was as if this was their daily routine in class, to do the hardest sheet.

**Every.Single.Time.**

The majority of the students got on with their work, except for the obvious new girl who mistakenly choose the wrong sheet as the equations all looked like a bunch of baloney to her. Tapping Christa on the shoulder for help, she noticed that she wasn't even working anymore. None of the students on her table were even writing anything.

"What is it Ymir?" giving her a confident smile

"Are you…Are you already finished? It hasn't even been 15 minutes!" 

Christa giggled on her enthusiasm, "Math is easy for me, it's always been that way. Everyone on this table is finished"

"Except for me, this is really difficult..." she mumbled

"Oh did you choose the wrong sheet, want me tell miss?"

Ymir shook her head quickly and placed her hands in front of her to stop the girl. "No no no, I mean…it's just that I'm a little confuse"

"You _choose_ the wrong sheet alright" Another person voiced their opinion all of a sudden, a boy who had dark blonde hair turned around to face the troubled Ymir with a slight grin. He looked all smug towards her. "I'm Jean, what's your name again?" Ymir noticed the spelling of his name on his sheet of paper.

"Why do you say it like that? Your name is clearly pronounced _Jeen_ , like 'Jee-in' not how you say it. You say it like your name is 'John' or something" Ymir pronounced the name with exaggeration, making the boy frown in discontent with her mannerisms. 

"That's how you say it properly and what about your name?" he grabbed Ymir's paper and looked at the spelling, "Y-mir?…It's supposed to be pronounced like 'Ee-mir' not 'Ya-mir'. You're saying it wrong, stupid"

"I know you're stupid, but what am I?" she retorted back with a sly smile, her childish instincts kicking in.

"Shut up Ymir, at least I could do my maths sheet unlike you who hasn't even started. Look who's stupid now" 

The two students started arguing and bickering quietly on the table, Christa try as she might failed to stop the two from fighting. Meanwhile the other boy who sat opposite Christa hissed at the two. "Can you **shut up** about your names, my little princess Christa is starting to feel uncomfortable" 

Ymir glared at the mysterious blonde boy with daggers, not taking it lightly on how he just called Christa 'princess'. Only she can say that to her!

"Your princess? I think you'll find it that she's my princess block head, whatever your name is"

"Block head? And for your information the name's Reiner, Freckles" he called Ymir, and if it was physically possible to kill someone with their eyes then 'Reiner' would already be dead.

"Oy we're not finished with our conversation Ymir!" 

Ymir glared back towards the boy named Jean, and growled towards him menacingly. "I don't care horse-face. Yours doesn't involve Christa"

Jean looked shocked and smacked his hand on the table, pushing his chair backwards while standing up all of a sudden. A loud bang echoed in the class and all of the students turned around to see the whole fiasco on table 1. 

"Horse-face?!" he boisterously shouted, anger radiating off him.

Mrs. Jane suddenly clapped her hands which quietened down everyone. "What is happening on that table? Everyone calm down, Christa could you please explain"

Christa cleared her throat, "Well…Ymir asked for my help and then Jean started arguing about how she picked the wrong sheet. It moved on with their names and how they're both pronouncing it wrong so Reiner called me princess-" Reiner blushed red while some of the younger students snickered.

"So Ymir called him a name while he r-retaliated against her. Jean felt left out…I guess and then Ymir called him 'horse-face'" she finished hesitantly, hating that she had to explain it. In this class, if there is a problem then one of the students on the table will have to explain the whole situation out loud truthfully to whole class. This rule was ridiculous really. 

When Christa finished at Jean being called horse-face, nearly the whole class bursted into laughter and giggles at the name. Mrs. Jane hushed the whole class yet again, looking disappointed on how immature everyone was, "Everyone get on with your work, you three will speak to me at break okay?" she ordered and the three nodded.

The class carried on with their work, all except for one table. The three students all glared at eachother, trying to out-do one another in some sort of 'showdown' using their eyes. Although the staring just made Christa sigh with their behaviour, and tried to stop them from trying to intimidate eachother with their glaring competition. 

"Can you three please just stop glaring. Ymir I'll help you with your work, you two go away" her eyebrows furrowing, the two boys eventually just looked away with a 'hmph'. "This went well Ymir" she whispered jokingly as she helped Ymir with her maths equations. 

"It's all horse-face and block-head's fault, they started it" 

"I believe you Ymir...but in this school, being like that isn't good, it'll get you into trouble and I don't want that" Christa looked saddened, so Ymir held one of her tiny hands and smiled gently. 

"Don't worry, it won't happen again" Ymir promised, but deep down she somehow knew she wouldn't be able to keep that promise. 

The two sat together in close proximity, Christa pointing out and helping Ymir with the equations by teaching her on how to solve it. It was great and Ymir couldn't imagine surviving without Christa at school, the blonde was her hero after all. 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this chapter, it was pretty cute wasn't it?


	4. The Horse [Part 2]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ymir being protective over Christa is _everything_.
> 
> And my primary school was definitely not like this. Thank god for that or I would have flip some tables around.

\---  
Age: 8 [1997]  
\---

After maths had been over and the dispute had died down just a fraction, it was time for English. Which by the way was Christa's favourite subject, evidence for her impeccably mature ways of speaking even at the age of 8. On the other hand, the opposite could be said for Ymir, I mean she definitely liked it more than Maths and even though she didn't speak like Christa, her english had been 'average' at most.

"Because we have recently finished the fable 'The fox and the crow' by Aesop, who you know wrote many fables in his life time. We are now moving on to another one of his well known works, which is 'The tortoise and the hare'. Now most of you will likely know how the fable goes, _no?_ " 

A few heads nodded in agreement while some hadn't had a clue on what their teacher wanted them to read.

"I'm gonna hand out the books, bare in mind that these ones are slightly written differently than the originals. They're easier to read and understand, so once you receive a book don't hesitate to read as far you can. Then after 10 minutes I will read it to you as well"

Mrs. Jane handed 4 books in a neat pile on table 1, as she walked away to give out the others. Hands grabbed one of the books on the pile, and opened it. Ymir while reading the book, started to tap her index finger against the hardback cover. No one else minded it, seeing as Christa and Reiner concentrated reading the story so they hadn't really heard anything in their perspectives.

Except for a certain person.

Jean slowly began to get closer and closer upon becoming insane if the new girl kept tapping. It was infuriating and annoying, making him lose concentration when trying to read the fable. 'Just another one of those taps and I will go crazy' thought Jean. He probably jinxed himself once he thought that sentence, when not only did Ymir tap once but consistently tapped quicker than before.

Jean didn't know if the others who literally sat near Ymir, had miraculously turned deft all of a sudden and that's why they couldn't hear the unbearable sound of tapping. Or they just decided to ignore the tapping even though it was louder than a pindrop, it made no sense in his mind. 

Nevertheless, the tapping continued and the frustration that grew within Jean continued also. The blonde boy vowed that if he heard one more…

Meanwhile Ymir deliberately tapped again, knowing that the Jean kid thought it was frustratingly annoying to hear. Oh she _knew_ , once she glanced up a little to see Jean furrow his eyebrows each time she tapped, she just had to use it against him. Mean? yes, but oh so sweet it was.

She was waiting for that moment, "Could you please stop tapping against your book!" Jean hissed under his breath, peaking out of the book to look at smug eyes looking back at him instead. The girl decided to stop tapping for a minute and Jean sighed in content although it didn't last forever. 

It started again.

It was louder than before

Smirking, Ymir could see Jean's fingers tighten and grip the book until his hands shook a little. Probably from anger she guessed and of course she had been right. 

"Christa…Hey Christa!" he whisper-shouted across the table.

The blonde looked up and titled her head, "What is it?" she asked quietly even though she knew what he was going to ask of her anyway. Ymir's tapping didn't annoy her at all and in Jean's mind it was probably the loudest thing he's hearing in class. Even Reiner didn't care, although he didn't 'care' seeing as he didn't want to get into more trouble.

"Can you please tell your **friend** to stop tapping, or else I'm going to go crazy" he spoke while he gritted his teeth shamelessly. 

"Jean, just ignore it. Everyone else is, it's not that loud or annoying" 

"Not annoying? I haven't been able to even read a sentence because a certain someone won't stop tapping" he glared towards Ymir who feigned innocence. 

"Maybe that's because you're stupid, horse-face" Ymir whispered, not loud enough for anyone to hear and snickered on doing so. Except for Christa who giggled a little before talking to Jean.

"Come on Christaaa…" he sulked as Christa sighed on his persistence. So she turned her head and spoke softly, "Ymir can you stop tapping please, I don't want another argument between you" her eyes bore into Ymir and she only sighed in defeat. With how Christa is staring at Ymir it was near impossible for her to not listen. 

"Fine…Only because you told me" Ymir smiled towards her little angel, quickly pinching her cheeks when she saw how cute she was being when serious. 'Serious' Christa stopped, a smile slowly forming because of Ymir's gesture.

After another fallout between Jean and Ymir, silence yet again enveloped around them on their table. There was no tapping anymore and in Jean's case, that was great news, so he carried on reading peacefully, enjoying the tranquillity.

The boy still believed that the others had gone deft for a full 10 minutes as he knew deep in his heart that he wasn't going mental and the noise Ymir produced had been loud. Thinking about the subject made Jean aggravated so he stopped the thought before something happened. Although once he finally found a comfortable pace on reading, Mrs. Jane suddenly claps her hands as usual to alert everyone. 

Jean groaned in dismay. This was not his day.

"Everyone look at me and listen. I will now read it for you, and for anyone who has finished put your hands up" She asked the class

A couple of hands came darting up and Christa had been one of them. Ymir couldn't help but admire how smart Christa was, she always knew Christa had been intelligent and it really showed through the two lessons she's had with her. The way she solved math problems in a flick of a wrist and how she spoke in certain occasions. The word 'stupid' certainly wasn't associated with her.

Mrs. Jane strutted over and gave each table with a small stack of paper in a neat pile. "You will now write a short paragraph on how you feel about this fable on the piece of paper. Did you like it? Or did you hate it?"

The students nodded in agreement, half the class listened carefully to the teacher while the other half started with their written work. 

Christa clicked the top of her pen and wrote the title plus her name on the sheet of lined paper; thinking on how she felt about the story, it dawned on her what she should write about it.

In Christa's own opinion, she rather liked the moral behind the fable, it showed two people who were polar opposites, be able to become good buddies near the end. To her that was a great ending, and it taught people that they shouldn't be so cocky towards another person…or in this case, an animal.

While she wrote her thoughts with the pen, Ymir finished reading the short fable and found it boring that it ended like that. The freckled girl became impatient with how slow Mrs. Jane read and decided to just finish a couple of sentences before closing the book.

Grabbing a piece of paper and a pen also, she began to write. On hers it read "The story was really good at the start, but the ending was bad. I mean the hare should have really won but he got toooo good! I would have really liked it more if he did actually won :D" Ymir snickered to herself while drawing the face, "what would the tortoise do then? Does he get sad or does he think it was bad to ask the hare to rase him…" her tongue stuck out a little to the side when writing the paragraph.

Looking over Christa's shoulder, she noticed that she also wrote a paragraph. Standing up just an inch to read the piece of paper, Christa turned her head and gave a small smile to the hovering girl. Grabbing the paper, she handed it to Ymir, "Do you want to read it? It's really not that good" 

"Yeah right, you're amazing in everything Christa" she whispered near her ear, not wanting to be obnoxious when the teacher had still been talking.

A pinkish colour lightly dusted Christa's cheeks from the comment, making her a little happy with Ymir's compliment.

After Ymir read Christa's paper; she looked up slowly, placed the paper on the table and ripped hers apart from shame. What she wrote couldn't compare with what Christa had written, hers had been a word catastrophe while Christa's one was perfect. The difference in ability showed when comparing the two. 

Yup, Ymir made her mind up. "I'm starting over again, seeing yours made me feel dumb" she commented, pouting and sulking like the child she was. Christa grabbed her piece of paper back, and apologised "I'm sorry Ymir…". while she hugged the taller girl. 

It felt great to be hugged by Christa thought Ymir at the time and everything felt meaningless for a couple of seconds before it was unexpectedly ruined.

"You're already dumb, so how did you feel more dumb by reading her work?" Asked Jean.

The 'moment'; completely ruined, instincts just shouted at Ymir to strangle the boy opposite her. Reiner hadn't made it better; looking all smug and confident pissed Ymir off more than Jean's comment.

"Shut up Jean, don't talk to Ymir like that. It's pathetic..." the blonde bluntly stated, throwing the three off so fast that their eyes widened prematurely from the tone. Ymir felt proud all of a sudden, letting out a laugh and hugging her little friend. 

To her, moments such as this, made her life oh so sweet. Witnessing a feisty Christa brightened up her mood, faster than eating a cake. And _that_ was something.

Ymir filled with excitement whispered,"That was awesome" and Christa responded with a soft sigh.

After the hug ended, they both started doing their work again. On a few occasions, Ymir's sharp eyes glanced towards the two boys in annoyance every so often. Until the bell rang to inform the class that the lesson was over.

All the students stood up and left by handing in their work to the teacher by the door. Anyone who hadn't done anything would get a detention, so bearing in mind that was the punishment no one was lazy when it involved their work. Although when Ymir, Reiner and Jean tried to walk pass the teacher, she stopped them immediately and sighed, a hint of disappointment laced in.

Christa could have already left and had her break, but of course she waited for Ymir just outside class.

Mrs. Jane crossed her arms, a neutral expression plastered on her face as her green eyes studied the three. "So why did you **disrupt** the whole class _Jean?_ " her tone of voice didn't scare Jean, although it alarmed him a tiny bit.

"It was all Ymir's fault, she called me horse-face!" To this, Ymir rolled her eyes dramatically on the answer. 

"Well you called me stupid" she retaliated bitterly along with a bitter expression. 

"No I didn't!" he lied by speaking louder than before, all the while a bored Reiner stood next to the two. Mrs. Jane noticed the behaviour and asked the boy. "And why did you get involved Reiner? I didn't think a responsible boy like you would ever get into trouble"

' _Ouch_ , that might have pushed a button' thought Ymir, not feeling a speck of sympathy for him.

"Ymir called me blockhead, so I simply called her 'Freckles' instead. There was nothing wrong with I did"

" **Liar!** You called Christa 'my little princess' like some weirdo. So I backed my friend up, like you should do" she hissed

" **Liar!** Ymir also called Christa 'princess' so you're a weirdo also" Reiner barked back like a dog, slowly inching his face near Ymir to intimidate her.

"You're double the weirdo" 

Her face inched closer

"Well…you're triple the weirdo!"

His face inched closer

"You're...You're a million times more weirdo than me!"

She inched closer until their face were a breath way, Ymir's height made her look down so she could stare Reiner in the face. Honestly the height difference gave her a superior feeling when compared to the boy.

Mrs. Jane shook her head, "You two break it off. You will not shout in such a manner in front of me. Jean, you shouldn't have called Ymir an idiot and Ymir you shouldn't have called Jean with a mean nickname like that. It's wrong and childish, while you Reiner-" she emphasised the name "shouldn't be calling Christa your 'princess'. That sort of behaviour can sometimes make Christa uncomfortable, whether she tells you or not. Now say sorry to each other and forget about the whole thing, Ymir it's your first day and I want you to have a good day so just let it go" 

All three apologised in unison, "Good, now off you go. Next lesson will be P.E and if I hear another fight from you three, your parents will be called in to talk about your appalling behaviours" 

Walking away, the three growled at eachother discreetly while Christa rolled her eyes and grabbed a hold of Ymir's hand, before running to the playground.

15 minutes later, the bell rung and Ymir's class all went to the changing rooms, well not all of them as apparently Mondays meant Year 3's only. 

Unfortunately Ymir didn't bring her p.e clothes so she had to borrow hand-me-downs from the lost and found. The girl didn't have a choice when P.E was her favourite lesson and she won't let anything ruin it.

Not even Jean or that Reiner, because now her anger fuelled her to do better. And it was game on.

Once everybody finished changing, Coach James, instructed the Year 3's to stand in a line on the running track. Coach James' eyes looked at the line until he stopped mid way to look at the new student; Ymir.

"You, what's your name?" he asked, his voice deep and demanding

"Ymir sir"

"Well Ymir I hope you're ready to do some running, because we're going to do relays today!" smirking, the coach's attitude brightened up once he said it "And I'll like to see how good or bad you are Ymir"

Ymir gulped nervously, thinking if she doesn't do so well then her new coach might kill her or something.

All of a sudden, Coach James saw Jean giggling and laughing. Walking harshly towards the blonde boy, he looked down in an intimidating way. "And was there something funny that I said Jean?"

Jean nearly pissed in his P.E shorts "N-No sir, nothing"

"Oh really? I must be hearing things then because I specifically saw you giggling like a girl when I talked to Ymir"

Jean couldn't say anything back

"I do not tolerate childishness from Year 3's. Year 1 and 2's yes, but not Year 3. If I see you acting childish in my class again you will be in detention" he threatened. 

Looking at the scene, Ymir couldn't believe what had just happened. She wasn't used to seeing such discipline in a school before and it made her feel tensed, that if she did something wrong it could result in instant punishment. 

Meanwhile, Christa just calmly listened to the coach's shoutings. It wasn't anything new and it certainly didn't scare her anymore. I mean the first time she heard his screaming it terrified every fiber in her body. But now, all it does now is nothing.

"Everyone group yourselfs in 4's. And grab yourselves a baton. After you group and get a baton, someone in your team will do group stretches and you will copy their every move"

As soon as the coach finished, the students hurried to huddle in their little group of friends. Ymir was partnered up with Christa, of course, plus two other girls called Bell and Jess. 

When all the teams were ready and positioned on the track, It delighted Ymir immensely to see who she was going to compete with. 

It was either faith or coincidence that made Jean be her competition in the relay. Although it didn't really matter, all that mattered was for her team to win and see Jean lose.

"On your marks…get set… **Go!** " 

Ymir ran fast and steady, holding the baton tightly in her tiny hands. Everybody else didn't matter and she focused on being quick as currently Jean was in front of her.

However Ymir smiled and quickly ran past Jean with a laugh, making Jean swear accidentally.

" _Shit_ …" Jean's eyes widened from saying the bad word and unconsciously slowed down a little. Never in his life has he said such a rude thing and it mortified him.

Meanwhile, Ymir smoothly passes the baton to Bell calmly as she watched the black haired girl run off. It made the freckled girl ecstatic that they were still in the lead and even Reiner's team couldn't catch up.

"You swore, I'm gonna tell on you" 

Jean teared up "No please don't tell on me! Mummy will be very disappointed in me an-

"Jeez alright alright, stop crying you big baby. Whatever, you loss to me and my team's still winning"

Jean wiped his eyes and felt a little embarrassed on behaving such a way in front Ymir, who he now hated a little more again. 

Ymir covered her eyes from the sun with a hand, to look at the last runner in her team. Seeing Christa run astonished her completely. For a person who's perfect in every subject, Christa's running didn't look too good.

"Hmph, yeah your team is definitely 'winning'" 

Ymir glared towards Jean and snarled "Shut up! Christa is amazing, not like you"

Although Ymir couldn't deny that Christa wasn't a fast runner, but of course she encouraged the blonde to run more by shouting "You're doing amazing Christa! Keep running"

This made Christa smile a little and try her best to run as fast as she can with her short little legs. Unfortunately, two of the runners from the other team; Reiner and another girl, ran pass her.

With wide eyes, the blonde's legs tried to run faster but the race was done. Reiner's team won the relay, and Christa couldn't help but feel disappointed with herself. 'It's my fault my team didn't win'

A tear rolled down her cheek while Christa quickly tried to wipe the coming tears, although Ymir running towards her with concern made her cry even more. 

The freckled girl wrapped her hands around Christa, giving her friend a warm hug to stop her from crying. "Christa it's alright, you did great" Doing what Christa normally did, Ymir grabbed Christa's hands, comforting the crying blonde. 

Christa talked with a few hics "N-no I didn't. I ma-made the whole t-team lose" Bursting out in tears, Ymir listened to her concerns and shook her head.

"It doesn't matter, all I care about is you not crying right now" Wiping the tears with her thumb, she patted Christa's crown of blonde hair softly. 

The moment had been ruined though when the coach came storming towards the two. "Stop crying Christa, you've always perforned badly in relays and today didn't change that at all" Turning around a smirk plastered on his lips, "Ymir you did better than I expected. How does joining the track team sound to you?"

Ymir didn't appreciate his tone "Does Christa get to join?"

"Heavens no, she's terrible at running and would hold the team back. And you don't want to join my group anyway, _right_ Christa?"

Christa hesistantly nodded

"Well I don't want to join unless Christa joins also!"

"Don't use that tone with me young lady"

"Well don't talk to Christa that way, like she's not even here when you're saying such  
…such mean things about her!"

"You apologise for talking back or _detention_ "

" **No** "

" **Detention for you Ymir!** "

Ymir gritted her teeth to stop retaliating against the coach, instead she turned around with Christa to get changed. The blonde's head leaned against Ymir and silently spoke 

"Sorry…"

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the sad ending, but next chapter will be quite happy especially when it's going to involve someone's birthday.
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter!


	5. The Wish

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! I've been really busy for the past 2 months with preparing and doing exams although now there's no school for us students in Britain, I can focus more on the fanfiction. In addition I've also been planning other fanfictions so there's that.
> 
> Important : I'm gonna make Christa's birthday a couple of weeks after Ymir's so her birthday now is in March (Ymir's older by a couple of weeks). I know that's not Christa's birthday but to do this fanfic, just go with it. Sorry if it bothers you.

\---  
Age: 8/9 [1997]  
\---

 

Ymir who quietly snored in her sleep was suddenly awoken by a soft hand to the shoulder. Gently swaying the shoulder, Ymir groaned and shook her head stubbornly in protest.

"5…5 more minutes" she mumbled into her pillow, clutching the blanket tightly with her small hands.

"Guess what day it is" 

The freckled girl opened one eye lazily in curiosity, too see her father full with glee, that was shown through a warm smile. It made Ymir subconsciously smile back in response. 

"I don't know…" Rubbing her eyes, she sat up straight on her bed.

Vilfred hit his daughter's head playfully with a gentle tap to the forehead, his eyebrow quirked in question with Ymir's attitude. Shaking his head, he swooped his arms under Ymir's body and swiftly picked her up; surprising Ymir, but making her laugh also. 

"It's your _birthday_! Don't tell me you've forgotten" 

The freckled girl's eyes widened from realisation and and looked dumbfounded for a couple of seconds before squealing in excitement. 

" **Oh!** I guess…I did forget" she laughed, the soft giggles filling the room with happiness. Vilfred carried Ymir downstairs where she exploded in joy when seeing the stack of pancakes on the dining table. 

3 layers of American pancakes, maple syrup and whipped cream on top. Everything the little girl loved. "Can I eat it right now?"

"Of course you can!" Placing Ymir's feet on the floor, she hurried towards the table with excitement, nearly wanting to jump on the chair to reach the plate of food quicker. Although one swift movement of a long arm in front of Ymir, stopped her.

"No"

Ymir snapped her neck towards Vincent in frustration, furrowing her eyebrows and filling her cheeks with air.

"Dad!" she complained, biting her lip "I want to eat my birthday breakfast" as a groan of disappointment escaped her lips.

Vincent looked deeply within Kristina's eyes with a stoic bland expression that screamed 'don't-do-this' as he firmly gripped his daughter's shoulder; comforting her. Shaking his head, a sigh was heard in the room and once he saw his wife's expression; fingers gently pushed Ymir towards Kristina. 

A winning smile manifested on her face, kneeling down to Ymir's height, stick thin fingers that were perfectly groomed to perfection pushed a couple of strands away from Ymir's face behind her ears. "Upstairs. Brush your **teeth** , brush your **hair** , change your **clothes** and make your **bed** , do this and you can eat your birthday breakfast"

Ymir nodded with clear hesistance, although she wouldn't dare disobey to save her from any trouble and to not escalate another feud between her parents. Which she absolutely did not want.

As Ymir climbed the stairs, she could hear small snippets of the arising argument. 

"Kristina that was too harsh...it's her birthday, give Ymir a break"

"It doesn't matter whether it's her birthday, the world doesn't revolve around Ymir. I don't want her looking like a slop, her bed is a mess Vincent!"

"So what? When it's your birthday you become so lazy like a tabby cat" he joked, making Ymir giggle a little although his joke didn't even faze Kristina, her face set in stone like a statue with no emotions. 

"Shut up Vincent…" walking away, she noticed Ymir staring and gave her trademark scowl "Do what you were told right now"

Scurrying away, nearly tripping over, Ymir ran up the stairs in a hurry to try and do what she was told to do. Make her bed and brush her hair and all of that. Honestly she didn't care but for the sake of her birthday, she'd rather not make a fuss to get things done quicker. 

Whispering "Okay…" her tiny legs moved in a haze, from the bathroom to brush her hair and her teeth to her bedroom where she cleaned her bed up. Placing her hands on her small hips proudly, a smile grew when the realisation hit her. 'I can finally eat my birthday breakfast'

Nearly loosing her balance again by going down the stairs, the excitement blurred any rational thoughts at that moment. All that mattered now was getting to that god damn table and eating everything until the plate's clean.

However what she saw drained her happiness instantly. The little to no respect she had for her mother dissappeared. Replaced with anger, fury and malice, her blood boiled and with Ymir's emotions blurred with an unbelievable amount of anger.

Her legs ran on their own as if she had no control, Ymir's curled up fists made contact against Kristina. The little girl lost control and gave in; punching and crying, as guilt crept up also.

"I hate you-you bitch!"

In the heat of the moment, time seemed to stop for Ymir and everything around her slowed in her perspective. The shoutings of her mother slowed and slurred, her father running into the room looked abnormal and Ymir's widening of the eyes opened at such a slow pace. That when a hard slap to the cheek was felt, time became normal again.

Shaking and nearly on the verge of an emotional overflow, Ymir stood and lowered her head, brown strands of hair covered the crying eyes.

"What the hell are you doing-" Vincent grabbed Kristina's arm so quickly, it was a surprise it didn't dislocate anything. "-slapping Ymir!"

His hazelnut eyes bore deep within Kristina's in a intimidating manner, pure anger radiated off him. 

"She called me a **bitch** and started hitting me!"

"As a parent, that still does _not_ invite you to hurt your own child, do you know what you just did? That was child abuse because you lost control and couldn't be a strong enough person to try and calm down Ymir. What you did just shows how immature you are and can't even logically think of another solution other than hitting Ymir when dealing with her tantrum. Children say things like that because they learn it from other people, and she certainly did not learn such _foul_ language from me"

Kristina looked offended, her hand clutching her chest to try and defend herself "So you're saying this is my fault an-" although it only gave an invitation for her husband to interrupt.

"Yes it is, that I'm absolutely certain. You say words that are so offensive whenever we are having a fight and even if we're not, you casually say such vulgar things around Ymir as if it's nothing. So how dare you hit Ymir with your immature behaviour, you-" he sighed to stop himself from being a hypocrite and swearing "And maybe if you stop being so uptight with Ymir, she'll listen to you. Just this morning, you ordered her around on her birthday like some servant"

"That was because she was a mess-"

"No she wasn't, it's her birthday and she's a child. Unlike you, she's not vain and doesn't like to look at herself in a mirror 24/7 like a model. Which you're not by the way. Also-"

"Tha-That's no-"

"No let me finish!" turning around, he gently pulled Ymir behind him to give her a sense of comfort and safety "What did she do Ymir? "

Ymir bit her lip, licking her lips the taste of metal hit her tastebuds "She was eating my birthday breakfast...and I didn't mean to but-" Kissing her forehead, Vincent stopped her from speaking anymore, the information he received was sufficient enough. 

"I bet you purposely ordered Ymir to do all those chores for you have a chance to get back at her. And so with this you acted even more immature than i thought and eating her breakfast? Are you-" Vincent covered Ymir's ears quickly "fucking kidding me?"

"You don't know how much of a brat she is when you're not here!"

"Still! You think that's her _fault_? No it's not, it's partially our fault and thinking about it right now…Ymir isn't even spoiled and…I think this fight is over Kristina" letting out a deep sigh, rubbing the bride of his nose he picked up Ymir and carried her. 

Vincent began to search for his coat somewhere around the house while Ymir sat on his shoulders, once he found it he walked towards the front door.

"I think we need to have our own space for a while Kristina, we'll...talk after I get back" 

Ymir eyed the two as she listened to her father's voice that had been laced with guilt, confusing the little girl on why he's the one feeling the burden when the problem was right in front of him. It was all her mother's fault again. In addition the pause in between suggested something more serious, more important, more mature for a young girl like Ymir to get involved in.

If her gut feeling was correct then…

She shook her head. Ymir knew her father didn't want a divorce with the 'affecting Ymir at a young age' excuse always used, whenever she accidentally hears her father mumble rather loudly after arguments. Snorting to herself upon thinking about it, it was ridiculous to think that way. It was a mutual hate.

Ymir and Vincent hated Kristina and Kristina hated them. 

"Just get it over and done with…" mumbled incoherently Ymir under her breath, the words dissipating almost immediately. Her father didn't hear anyway.

Ymir wondered where her father was taking her, although a couple of steps later she knew exactly where they were going. To Christa's house. They were wonderful people and generally kindhearted to the core, exact opposite of Kristina. 

"Perfect..." Ymir mumbled yet again

As Vincent carried Ymir tightly, he cleared his voice "Ymir I'm sorry you had to witness that and on your birthday as well…I'll make it up to you, how does going to the arcade sound like?"

Releasing a bubbly laugh, she nodded with the promise. "It's okay, don't be sad dad…Anyway why are we going to Christa's house?"

"Well…" a mischievous grin possessed his lips as he told her to 'wait and see'. This made Ymir curious as to what her father was planning or in this case what Christa was plotting. 

Knocking at the door, the two waited until Christa's mother; Alma, answered to only be surprised to see the freckled girl and her father. 

"Oh Vincent you're early! We aren't even _done_ …" she whispered with an emphasis on 'done'.

Vincent placed Ymir on her feet and apologised for being so early "Sorry Alma, we had some personal problems back at our house and I didn't want Ymir to be exposed to such a-"

"Come in come in" Alma immediately invited them inside the house, agreeing and sympathising with Ymir's father. Meamwhile Rod came into the whole meet and great scenario with a spotty birthday cone hat on his head while glitter was on him everywhere. Wondering what happened as Vincent laughed, Rod explained that when Christa was decorating, she had accidentally spilt glitter everywhere when it exploded in a 'pop'.

"Happy Birthday Ymir!" Both Alma and Rod exclaimed with a bright warm smile that made Ymir feel welcomed by them. 

"Thank You!" one of her feet went up on its toes as she twirled it slightly every so often "Can I see Christa? " she asked politely, making Alma giggle a little as she said yes, telling her she was in the dining room. Running quickly, she found her best friend standing in the middle with wide eyes.

There, the blue eyed girl, stood with her arms in front of her, bending slightly forward looking as if she was a deer seeing the headlights of a car. Her jaw was left hanging as she looked so embarrassed to be seen by Ymir at the moment. 

Meanwhile, Ymir covered her mouth with a hand to stop herself from laughing out loud with the scenario she was presented with. Christa was covered, literally _covered_ with blue glitter on her and everything surrounding her. Hands, legs, face, hair and her clothes. 

**Everything.**

Not only that, her yellow floral dress seemed to be covered with some sort of red paint that looked as if it was splashed on messily. 

Walking over in a fit of laughter, Ymir's legs shaking from how funny this was. Christa pouted and crossed her arms, feeling the tiny grains of glitter against her skin. 

"This isn't funny, it's a mess. And you're birthday party isn't even finished and I'm not finished with decorating your card and everything important!" she exploded in a frenzy, flailing her arms in the air for exaggeration.

Patting Christa's bundle of blonde hair, Ymir shook her head left to right and just smiled at the effort Christa was going to through for her. It was heartwarming and butterflies emerged all of a sudden within her stomach. 

"Stop worrying Christa!" Ymir exclaimed with joy "and I didn't know you were planning a party for me, I didn't even remember it was my birthday until my dad told me" she joked making the blonde giggle.

"Of course I remembered and of course I had to plan a birthday party. I didn't know you were going to come so early, my family isn't finished with decorating"

"Yeah…" scratching her head awkwardly "I didn't know either, my dad just kinda stopped at your house" she stopped herself from forming a bitter smile.

"Well you're dad called over a week ago to plan this, so he knew for like a week. I'm surprised he could keep it a secret because I nearly accidentally told you once or twice….or maybe five times" a blush formed on her cheeks. 

Going in for a hug, Ymir wrapped her arms around Christa and swung her left to write gently from sheer happiness. "Oh well, I'm just really really really really really really really really really" she took a big breath "happy right now!"

Releasing her hold, she stood back and looked down. "Oh…" not only was Christa covered with glitter, she was now also covered with the annoying decorating material. 

"Now you're covered as well" she laughed, although hearing a door bell Christa told Ymir to stay where she was as Christa ran quickly outside the living room.

Standing still and humming a little, she heard laughter behind the wall where the front entrance was. Once Christa walked back in she had a bigger smile than before "Guess who it is" saying in a singsong manner, Ymir tried to guess.

"Who?"

All of a sudden, someone said "Me" only showing their head while the rest of the body was hidden by the wall. Then Ymir instantly realised the boy and gave a gasp of surprise. 

"Jean!"

"I keep telling you, it's pronounced like 'John' not 'Jeen'!" he sulked.

Although another voice popped out above Jean's head "I'm also here freckles" Reiner smirked, irritating Ymir but putting a smile on her face as well as she retaliated by calling the boy 'blockhead'. 

"I invited them for your birthday! More people are gonna come later on"

Both boys entered the room and gave their presents to Ymir, as the freckled girl suspiciously squinted her eyes at them as if she suspected their presents were pranks or something. Wouldn't be surprised if they were, Ymir knew how sneaky these boys could be. Learning from past mistakes. 

Like the time where she ate an oreo, innocently thinking Jean was just the 'sharing-and-caring' type of guy. Oh he did share although Ymir experienced how sometimes, his good intentions weren't always 'angelic' seeing as there had been tomato ketchup inside the oreo. 

Reiner on the other hand, wasn't a boy who liked to prank people. Unfortunately when he did prank people, it would always be a scare prank, this was learned by Ymir after a month of school. When the blonde boy placed a wolf mask on, hid behind a door to only jump out and scare the life out of Ymir when she casually walked pass.

To this day, Ymir swore to the two boy that she would get her revenge back, making Reiner and Jean brush the threat like it was dust on their shoulders. 

"I promise it's not a prank" Reiner informed

"Sames" Jean said quickly

"Yeah okay" Ymir nodded, pursing her lips while the corners lifted up. "But if it is a prank, I swear" she pointed, hands went up in front of them to say 'we-promise-its-not-a-prank'. All the while Christa laughed at the three, thinking it was funny how the three are getting along so well when the first time they met was a disaster. One could wonder.

After everything was set up, fixed and decorated by the help of Ymir and Christa's parents plus the addition of Reiner and Jean. The placed looked 'awesome' as Ymir described it once it was all finished. 

Party ballons were strapped to the table and chairs, as some of the ones that had been filled with helium floated and stayed up in the ceiling. A banner that had said **'H A P P Y - B I R T H D A Y'** in big bold letters was hanged up. It had been red with yellow dinosaurs placed near the 'H' and 'Y'. Confetti was all over the table that held the cake in the middle of the room. Blue glitter was still everywhere, however Ymir thought it added an extra touch to the place.

Then some of the other guests started flooding in. Some of Christa's and Ymir's friends in year 3 all came in with smiles while they all filled the dining room with presents.

Vincent told Ymir to stand in front of the cake that had nine candles all meticulously placed for Ymir to blow out. "Think of a wish Ymir" her dad said.

All the other children sung 'Happy Birthday' for Ymir, as they all waited for the moment she would blow out the candles. When she did, they all cheered while pictures were taken by Alma, as she shouted "Cheese!"

The ribbon of smoke rose up above the candle, while Christa asked in curiosity what Ymir wished for. 

Ymir shook her head, and said "I'm not allowed to tell you it's a secret and if I did It wouldn't come _true_ ". She remembered this rule from her father, when she accidentally blurted out her wish on her 5th birthday. 

"I'm sure it was a great wish Ymir" smiling, she pointed at the cake "Come on Ymir! You have first slice of the cake"

As everyone enjoyed their time, all Ymir thought was her wish that swarmed her head throughout the whole party. 

'I wish everyday was like this' was what she thought when she had to blow out the candles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! Really sorry about the lateness of this chapter.


	6. The Weather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really sorry for the late update! Blame it on my procrastinating self. I'm writing multiple fanfics so all my priorities are mixed up  
> but I try my best to place this as one of my top priorities. Anyway they're now 11 years old!

\---  
Age : 11/11 [2000]  
\---

_Ymir walked with her father hand in hand._

_The weather had been lovely when the Sun shone so brightly; a rarity in gloomy old Britain, seeing as the country had been used to rain, rain and more rain. So Ymir’s father suggesting to have a walk in the park had been brilliant. Maybe they could even spot an ice-cream van along the journey._

_“Ymir, we’re meeting someone actually on the way” Vilfred announced out of the blue, looking down at his daughter as he smiled fondly._

_“Really? Who is it dad?” she asked curiously._

_Suddenly the scene changed. Instead of beautiful blue skies and birds tweeting, a storm brewed in the sky as Ymir’s frightened eyes watched the ground crumble around her quickly. Leaving behind a black abyss. Flinching from the booming sounds of thunder, it occurred to the girl her father lacked the smile he had a few moments ago._

_“Dad?...” her voice quivered, Vilfred loosened his grip with Ymir’s hands._

_Tears streamed down Ymir’s confused face, she didn’t know why she was crying exactly. Why was she crying?_

_“I’m sorry I have lied to you Ymir” tears also seemed to appear on her father’s face_

_“What do you mean you lied to me! I don’t know what’s happening and I’m scared...I’m so scared right now” Ymir lunged at her father to hug him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she waited for him to reciprocate the gesture._

_He didn’t._

_Instead, he pushed her away harshly as if Ymir had burnt him from the contact. Ymir’s heart broke with the rejection._

_“I’m sorry, she’s here to take you away now…”_

_“Who?” Ymir practically shouted, her voice broke._

_Without warning, sharp fingernails dug into her shoulders painfully; releasing a sharp intake of breath._

_Turning around, her eyes widened._

_“Me! It’s time for me to take you away my sweet little Ymir” Kristina cackled loudly near Ymir’s ear, her hands snaking around Ymir’s neck as she fiercely dragged her body. Further and further away from Vilfred until they were at edge of the crumbling ground._

_"Say goodbye to your **dad** Ymir" Kristina whispered near her daughter's ear, as she took a step back._

_Their bodies fell down the dark empty abyss, all the while Ymir's cries mixed with her deranged mother's cackles of laughter._

Opening her eyes in panick, her body sat up quickly as Ymir breathed erratically, unable to calm down her beating heart. Placing a hand on her forehead, she wiped the sweat off with a flick of a wrist.

Rubbing her eyes with a fist, it felt physically exhausting for Ymir to experience the nightmare. This wasn't the first time a similar nightmare plagued her mind, it's been happening for months on end ever since her father had the divorce.

The first time she dreamt of her mother, she woke up crying. Frightened on being taken away by the woman that made her life shit.

It never changed. It always seemed to involve her mother taking her away from her dad. And sometimes it would be so bad, Ymir would become too afraid to sleep.

Lack of sleep wasn't good for your health, Ymir knew that well. It impacted her body so much; dark under eyes, fatigue, lack of concentration. All of this was too much for the 11 year old girl. No one deserved to go through this nearly every night, yet Ymir endured it.

There was nothing she could do, it was out of her reach. How can you fight a problem when that problem was in your head? So Ymir for the most part felt weak against the horrible nightmares. Of course she spoke about it to her father. Words of comfort from him could only go so far though.

Logically, she knew that Kristina wasn't going to take her away.

Although deep within her, a possibility of that ever happening sometimes popped in her mind. Ymir wasn't going to lie, that scared her. Thankfully her father would always assure her that it'll never happen.

'I'll never let _her_ take you away from me Ymir's her dad would whisper protectively, hugging the bad thoughts away from Ymir.

Ymir didn't tell Christa though, she knew the girl would become worried sick over her health and start forgetting about her's. So Ymir wanted to keep it a secret for now.

Looking around, sunlight had seeped through the small opening of the blinds, telling Ymir it was morning. Opening the black blinds, the light brightened the room, those yellow orange hues made the room look rather cozy.

Lying back onto the bed, her breathing finally became normal. The girl knew, these nightmares would eventually die down sooner or later, well or so she hoped, or else she would surely go insane.

Apart from the nightmares. Ymir was fairly happy with the divorce even if it did set a chain of nightmares for her. Nevertheless dealing with nightmares was far easier with dealing with a bitch like her mother. And with Ymir wishing for the divorce ever since she was young, when it was finalised. The biggest sigh of relief stored for so many years was released the moment she heard the news.

Vilfred, her father, also felt relief with the decision. Years of being married to such a demanding, egotistical and selfish woman instead felt like decades. After the divorce, Vilfred noticed how free he felt out of her hold. He was able to do things without having to argue with his wife, or ex-wife now.

Such as meeting up with friends; making new ones, without the jealous whispers next to his ear.

Talking to his female friends; hugging and chatting, catching up with their lives.

As a father, Vilfred could also spend more time with Ymir plus spend his earnings more towards his only daughter. Even though countless of times, Ymir would refuse whenever her dad became spontaneous and had a sudden urge to buy unnecessary things for her.

Although once Ymir and her dad moved to a new house. Ymir couldn't refuse to accept her dad's offer to decorate her _own_ bedroom. Unlike like last time when she had no choice but to sleep in a disgustingly pink room.

No.

This time it was her choice on what she wanted.

Finally getting out of bed.

Ymir looked around her bedroom.

White walls contrasted with deep hues of blue and green; hints of greys mixing into the colour combinations. A large bed in the middle of room, where Ymir slept had been right next to the window; perfect for seeing the sunrise. The bed frame was a grey colour; simple with no intricate designs unlike last time. The covers had white and blue horizontal stripes, pillows being a bright blue were stacked messily on top. 

Near the bed was a small white desk with a black swivel chair. Paper, pencils, books, as well as other things had been on the desk. Unfinished homework had been along the pile, furthermore a framed picture of her and dad sat proudly near the pencil container. It was her holding a bike, next to her dad smiling in glee.

Above the desk were multiple posters; celebrities, shows and quotes, plastered the wall. One had loosened in the corner, hanging slightly out of line with the others. Although pokemon posters had been the most prominent out of everything plastered on the white walls. 

Across the desk, was her wardrobe that stored her clothes. Next to the wardrobe was a bookshelf filled with books; untouched by Ymir. Except for the rare ones with a crease on the spine, evidence of being read by the girl. 

On the floor, toys and opened magazines were left casually on the black circle rug. A stuffed pikachu and bulbasaur laid next to eachother near the bed, while in front of the lifeless toys were pokemon cards all spread out carelessly in a pile.

Ymir carefully tried to avoid stepping on the precious pokemon cards as she made her way down stairs to go to the kitchen. Where her half asleep dad kept trying to open his eyes. The spoon full of cereal sometimes missed his mouth, creating a mess on his face.

Walking up to her father and tapping him on his head made Vincent's eyes widen quickly before it slowly closed again. Ymir tutted while smiling, she knew her father returned home late last night because of work, it wasn't anything new for her.

Grabbing a mug, Ymir poured freshly made coffee into it; dropping two cubes of sugar, she presented it in front of her father. The subtle smell of coffee hit Vincent's nose as his eyes stared at the mug. 

"Thanks Ymir…" he murmured, grabbing the mug he took a tiny sip "God I'm so tired…I just want to…sleep" those half lidded eyes began to droop down.

"If you wanted to sleep, then I shouldn't have given you that coffee" Ymir attempted to grab the mug but before she could even touch it, Vincent stopped Ymir.

"No it's my coffee now" sticking his tongue out and pouting like a child who won't share his sweets, Ymir rolled her eyes at him. 

"Fine fine, you're such a child Dad" she complained although a smile grew on Ymir’s lips. "Oh, can I go and visit Christa?"

Vincent's hand waved up and down "Yeah yeah, just come back before 4 okay?" 

"Mmh yeah I will" 

"You be careful"

"I will dad" 

After Ymir made breakfast, which was really her just putting a slice of bread into the toaster and waiting until it popped up. She said a quick goodbye to her father while placing her blue hoodie on at the same time.

Stepping outside the house, the freckled girl positioned herself on the red and black bike that had been covered in mud. The result of deliberately riding the bike through puddles with thick mud, lack of cleaning also contributed to the horrendously dirty bike Ymir owned.

She couldn't care less though. Besides when has a little bit of mud hurt anyone?

Once she found the right pace, Ymir cycled towards Christa's house which thankfully wasn't that far away from where she lives. Even if it was, Ymir wouldn't give up that easily, if she wants to see Christa then she'll see Christa. No matter what distance she needed to travel.

Riding her bike calmly, the light breeze made her brown hair flow gently with the wind, keeping it out of her face. The sun shone brightly down at Ymir, it made her feel too warm when she wore such a thick hoodie. This type of weather rarely occurred so it wasn't Ymir’s fault she assumed it would be the classic 'gloomy' weather again. It was clearly wrong to assume the unpredictable British weather.

A single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead before it was swiped off by a hand. The weather was taking a toll and riding a bike didn't help but fuel the sweat to accumulate more.

The tired girl really hoped that Christa's house was cool; ice cold even. Anything would be better than this hot mess of a weather where humidity literally slapped you. 

In the distance, brown eyes spotted a familiar looking house. Gripping the handle bars and picking up the pace, those skinny legs worked quicker to reach Christa's house. Finally arriving at the house, Ymir slowed down and hit the breaks, stopping right in front of the door.

Smiling widely, the curtains had been opened and Ymir could see Christa watching a movie or show in the living room. Placing her bike on the ground, Ymir moved slowly towards the window; sneaky and quiet, while walking on her toes. 

Christa's back was facing Ymir so the blonde couldn't see what she was up to. She didn't know that right behind her was her best friend trying to prank her.

" **CHRISTA!** " Ymir exclaimed loudly, banging on the window hard with a hand and creating a racket. 

A high pitch scream was heard. Christa jumped back from the sudden noise, covering her face with pale arms. However when her heart rate calmed down to the point where it wouldn't jump out from being scared. Her ears picked up laughing and giggling by the window, sometimes there would be a snort mixed with the cackling.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she saw Ymir laughing while hunched over as she clutched her stomach. Christa pouted angrily, looking like a little fluffed up kitten. 

Moving away from the window, Ymir knocked to enter and waited until Christa opened the door. Lifting her arms up, Ymir tried to get a hug from the blonde. Although the blonde stood still with her arms crossed, obviously still sour over the prank.

This time Ymir joined in with the 'puppy eye' look, trying to desperately gain forgiveness by doing an innocent face. A sigh escaped Christa's mouth, those pouting lips replaced with a warm smile, she hugged her freckled friend.

Arms engulfed her small frame, Ymir’s chin rested on the bundle of blonde hair as she returned the loving gesture. There was a bigger height difference now between them. Whereas three years ago, they would have been somewhat equal in height. However, it looks as if Ymir received the growth spurt instead of Christa. 

"Have you grown taller Christa?" Ymir asked, knowing full well the blonde hadn't and would inevitably sulk.

"You know I haven't Ymir, you saw me a couple days ago. But you look like you've grown, what magic do you use?" 

"Magic? I don't need magic. You just need to be intelligent to grow"

" _haha_ says the person who received the lowest score in the maths test last week" 

"Oi, maths is hard" Ymir complained, while she felt Christa break off the hug as they entered her house. 

Soft hands grabbed Ymir’s, their fingers intertwined together like a jigsaw puzzle. Christa lead Ymir into the living room, where the show 'The Powerpuff Girls' were playing. There had been a small bowl of fruit placed left in front of the TV, initiating a questioning look on Ymir.

"Fruit? Where's the sugary cereal Christaaa?" 

They sat in front of the TV, watching the three super-girls fight the villain. 

"I felt like eating fruit, there's nothing wrong with it"

Tapping her forehead, Ymir grinned playfully "Eating sugary cereal will help you grow" she said with a sing-song voice. 

"You're not funny, you'll see Ymir, I'll be taller than you by the time Secondary school comes" she stuck her tongue out, crossing her arms with confidence.

Laughing, Ymir grabbed the remote, to only start flickering through the other channels before she stopped when she saw an episode of 'Pokemon' pop up on the screen. Sitting closer near the TV, Christa pushed her back away from the screen almost instantly. Ymir was sitting too close.

"Move back Ymir, it's bad for your eyes" Christa warned.

Ymir brushed it off with a wave of a hand "Yeah yeah, of course it is. I do this all the time, well enough about my watching habits. Where are your parents exactly? It's a bit early for them to leave" 

"My dad's at work and my mum's buying a few extra stuff she forgot to buy while shopping for groceries" Christa grabbed the remote back as she talked, "She'll probably come back in like 10 minutes" changing the chanel suddenly, Ymir protested by trying to get the remote out of the blonde's hand.

Stretching her arms out, away from Ymir’s reach, she moved back and tightened her grip on the device. Ymir didn't hold back and quite literally jumped on Christa, tackling her to the floor desperately. Attacking Christa, Ymir’s fingers tickled the blonde furiously around her stomach area. 

Screams of laughter erupted from Christa as she weakly tried her best to crawl away from the tickling monster. Although her arms and legs wobbled from uncontrollable laughter, her limbs turned into jelly as she kept feeling the weird sensation that made her giggle.

" _Stop_ Ymir! Stop it" her sentences were broken, choking on the words when she chortled "I swear to God Ymir! I'm going to h-hit you ahaha!" 

Fingers accidentally touched Ymir’s underarm when Christa pushed, an unexpected screech was heard from Ymir’s hand as she flinched.

Christa gave an evil grin; it looked unnatural on the baby-faced blonde. That suspicious glint in her eyes made Ymir gulp, Christa now knew her weakness now. 

Ymir was ticklish as well.

"Aha! You're ticklish also!" Christa announced, Ymir hopelessly denied the accusation.

The freckled girl sat firmly on Christa's hips and crossed her arms, looking smug. Christa looked up, her face was red from laughing so hard, as she elicited a tired vulnerable expression.

"I'm not tick-ahahaha! You- Chrisaahaha" Unable to speak in full sentences, Ymir catched Christa's small hands, fingers moved down briefly to grip both her wrists. Ymir pinned it down to the floor, making Christa powerless in the situation. 

"Get off me Ymir" she said, wriggling around under the taller girl. Eventually after Ymir composed herself from being tickled, she rolled over and laid next to Christa. Their hands intertwining again, Ymir squeezed a little tighter. 

"That was all your fault you know" a teasing grin grew on her lips as it slowly turned into a toothy smile instead.

"My fault? Psch, it was yours"

"I was watching Pokemon, you changed the channel"

"Well I didn't want to watch pokemon"

Ymir’s eyes widened "You don't like Pokemon? You're weird".

"I like Pokemon!" Christa's hands went up in defence "I just don't like it as much as you do. I like Harry Potter more" 

"Harry what?" Ymir’s eyebrow quirked at the name "Who's this boy you like?! Where does he live? Why do you like him? I'm better than that boy, he has no spot in our friendship. He can leave" rambling on, Christa laughed and placed her head on Ymir’s chest.

"He's not actually real you know?" giggling she shook her head "It's a book called 'Harry Potter', and It's so good Ymir. There's _magic_ and house teams and wizards!"

"Okay okay Christa, calm down. Never knew you were the magic type, thought you'd like romance books instead" she joked

"Romance isn't my cup of tea, it's too cheesy" 

The two girls kept talking, not moving at all as they stayed on the floor holding hands. Every so often, Ymir would squeeze their hands together, tightening the grip while feeling the blonde respond to the innocent gesture. 

Their conversation moved from books and shows to what will happen once they enter Secondary school. Their school uniforms; their new teachers; their new friends. They both agreed that they'd never break their friendship or that they'll never ignore eachother and replace one another with another person. 

"Pinky promise" Christa softly clenched her fist but left her pinky finger out.

"I _promise_ " wrapping her pinky around Christa's, a smile formed on her lips "I'll never break this"

Hugging the freckled girl tightly took Ymir by surprise although her hands quickly wrapped around Christa's small body. Releasing a sigh, Ymir placed her chin in between the crook of the blonde's neck and shoulder. 

Christa's attention directed towards the window, craning her neck slightly she watched the weather transform.

The living room dimmed suddenly; it became darker, those big grey clouds formed in the sky to replace the sun's rays. The sudden lack of light casted a shadow on the freckled girl's face.

"Me too Ymir…I promise"

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's their last day at primary school next chapter, what does that mean? It means they go to Secondary school the chapter after that! Yes, meaning more characters added! Hope you enjoyed this, forgive me for the mistakes I've made. Comments and kudos are appreciated! ^.^


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